1. Field of Invention
The field of the currently claimed embodiments of this invention generally relates to devices and methods for harvesting bone grafts.
2. Discussion of Related Art
In the current U.S. healthcare market, cost constraints are becoming a central and ever-growing issue. In this landscape, hospitals and surgeons are being pressured to cut the costs of various procedures while still maintaining good clinical outcomes. One area which has potential to concurrently reduce costs and increase care is in the area of bone graft harvesting for use in complex surgical procedures such as, for example, spinal fusions. Hundreds of thousands of people in the U.S., and millions worldwide, undergo spinal fusion procedures every year. Generally speaking, the long term success of a spinal fusion is dependent on a successful bone graft for inducing the fusion of two spinal vertebrae. A failed fusion can mean an additional surgical procedure, with potentially life threatening risks to the patient, as well as huge additional costs to the healthcare system.
According to at least one common procedure, a bone graft may be harvested from the patient's own body (autologous bone) such as, for example, from the iliac crest, the superior border of the wing of ilium and the superolateral margin of the pelvis. Autologous bone is often preferred because there is less risk of graft rejection since the graft originated from the patient's own body. Nevertheless, there are still risks and substantial costs associated with harvesting bone grafts using currently available techniques and methods.
There is a need for new bone harvesting methods and devices which are complementary to spinal fusion surgeries (as well as other uses of autografts such as, for example, maxiofacial reconstruction, dental procedures, bone trauma, bone cancer, fracture repairs and joint replacement, etc.) and which allow hospitals to maintain high standards of care at a fraction of the cost of current options without compromising patient safety. In particular, there is a need for a minimally-invasive device and method to harvest iliac crest bone graft (ICBG) to help reduce the morbidity associated with bone harvesting procedures and allow physicians to achieve high fusion rates without burdening the hospitals with the high costs of utilizing bone graft substitutes such as bone morphogenetic proteins (BMP) products, allografts, or demineralized bone matrices (DBM).